Never Breach the Trust
Reposed in You

If you have anything which can be beneficial to someone, it is as if you are holding it in trust for him. You have to convey it to the person whom it might benefit.

According to Abu Huraira, the Prophet of Islam once observed: “If someone reposes trust in you, you should repay that trust but if someone is guilty of a breach of trust, you should not treat him likewise.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 1264)

Repayment of trust is without doubt a very important Islamic commandment (Quran 23:8). If anyone has had a certain trust reposed in him, he should feel uneasy until he is able to repay it. Trust does not relate to any one thing in particular. It relates to words, deeds and beliefs.

If you have anything which can be beneficial to someone, it is as if you are holding it in trust for him and you can convey it to the person whom it might benefit. If some words of yours can save someone from being dishonoured, these words are a trust with you. It is necessary that you utter those words so that your brother may be safe as to his honour and his wealth. The advice of the Prophet is that you should never be guilty of a breach of trust.

This advice is very important. The truth is that as long as one thinks along these lines, one will repay the trust, irrespective of the other person’s attitude. Only then will one be able to succeed in the test of the repayment of trust.

In the present world it often happens that one person has a complaint against another. This complaint is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. If one is influenced negatively by these complaints he can never adhere to good ethics or good moral values. In this world the practice of repaying trust is to be adopted in spite of others’ breach of trust. We have to behave well in spite of the bad behaviour of others. One who does not believe in this principle can never tread the right path.